Chapter 3: What the Lawyer Knew
I left Victoria and Julian standing in the corridor and walked into Elena's room.
She was propped against two pillows, an IV line taped to her left arm, a white dressing covering the worst of the swelling above her eye.
The blue dress had been replaced with a hospital gown.
Someone had folded it neatly on the chair beside her bed, as if it were still worth keeping.
"You came back," she said.
"I never left."
She looked at the door behind me.
"Where are they?"
"In the corridor.
My men are with them."
Elena closed her eye.
"She planned this, Elias.
This wasn't just tonight.
She's been working toward this for months." She paused.
"The lawyer.
His name is Hargrove.
He's been handling the estate paperwork since Dad passed."
"I know that name."
"He was at the house two weeks ago.
I didn't think anything of it.
Mom said he was reviewing the trust documents." She opened her eye and looked at me directly.
"But Dad's will was already finalized.
There was nothing left to review."
I pulled the chair close and sat down.
"Did Hargrove ever ask you to sign anything?"
"Once.
He said it was a routine update to the beneficiary records.
I told him I wanted my own attorney to look at it first." She watched my face.
"Mom was furious.
She said I was being paranoid.
That I was insulting the family by not trusting their lawyer."
"What did Hargrove do?"
"He smiled.
He said there was no rush." She reached for my hand.
"That was eleven days ago."
I looked at the window.
Eleven days ago was three days after the stranger had followed Elena home from the grocery store.
I had assumed that was a warning from a rival.
Now I was less certain.
My phone buzzed.
A message from Marcus, my head of operations: *Hargrove's office placed a call to the Vance estate at 11:42 p.m.
tonight.
Forty-seven minutes before Elena was taken outside.*
I read it twice.
"Elias." Elena's grip tightened.
"What is it?"
"Hargrove called the house before they took you out into the snow." I set the phone face-down on the bed.
"He knew what was going to happen.
He may have been the one who told them to move tonight."
The silence between us was the kind that changes things.
"Why tonight?" she asked.
"Why not last week?
Why not after the funeral?"
"Because something changed." I stood.
"Something made them decide they were running out of time."
I walked back to the door and opened it.
Victoria was seated in a corridor chair, her coat still buttoned, her posture rigid.
Julian stood against the opposite wall, arms folded, not looking at anyone.
My two men flanked the corridor at each end.
"Mrs.
Vance," I said.
She didn't answer.
"Hargrove called your house at 11:42 tonight." I let that land.
"Before your daughter was outside.
Before anything happened.
He knew the plan."
Victoria's jaw tightened.
"I want my lawyer."
"I know you do." I took one step closer.
"What I want to know is why he called you.
What changed today that made tonight the night?"
Julian's arms dropped to his sides.
He looked at his mother.
She said nothing.
Julian said, "Tell him."
"Julian—"
"Tell him, Mom." His voice cracked at the edge.
"Because I didn't know about Hargrove.
I didn't know he called.
I thought this was just about the house." He pushed off the wall.
"What else is there?"
Victoria looked at her son for a long moment.
May you like
Then she looked at me.
"You should ask your wife," she said quietly, "what her father told her the night before he d*ed."
